Bliss
by Persephone Summerwick
Summary: Castle and Beckett are married, and she's eight months pregnant when a horrific event takes place. It all starts with a hostage situation and early-labor...


Katherine Beckett was eight months pregnant with twins. And everybody knew it. She loved the fact that she was making life inside of her, but hated the fact that she constantly had back aches, stretch marks, and felt utterly huge despite Castle's reassurances. Sometimes when he told her she looked beautiful pregnant, she cried and called him a liar. Sometimes, she'd thank him and kiss him. And then other times, she'd scream and yell in disagreement. All he could do was roll his eyes and blame the hormones. He was almost constantly crossing his fingers, begging for not another outburst everytime something upset her.

She was especially sensitive in this stage of her pregnancy. They were watching a commercial on abused animals the other day, and she started sobbing out of nowhere, in disbelief that they'd release an advertisement 'so cruel'. In her state, Rick had managed to convince her it was just a sick joke, and the puppies and cats were okay.

As much as he hated her outbursts, he loved them. Because as well as agitating, she was adorable. And beautiful, even if she didn't always see it.

Today, the author had to stop at the bank on their way to dinner because the diner they were heading to didn't accept credit.

"I'll be right back." He said, unbuckling his seatbelt and getting out of the car. "Uh, what are you doing?" He saw her struggling to get up and out of the vehicle.

"If you think I'm just going to sit here in this 120 degree car, you're nuts."

"I just need to go to the atm in the main room.."

"Shut up." She mumbled, waddling towards the bank. He smirked at the sight and quickly nodded. Somehow, she was a quick walker even when her belly was huge. Once she reached the door, Castle jumped ahead of her, to open the door for her. Anything to win some brownie points. Kate smiled softly.

"Thank you." Outburst prevented. He was getting good at this. Castle pulled his card out of the leather brown wallet and pushed it in the atm, frowning moments later. "Why isn't it working?" His wife asked, leaning forward to look.

"Hold on," he muttered, trying three more times. "What the hell? Declined?"

"You're doing it wrong." She snatched it from him.

"I'm not!" He rolled his eyes. "If you _must_. If I was doing it wrong, it would have just told me to try again. It wouldn't say declined."

"Hush." Once again, declined.

"See!" He pointed out, shaking his head in anger. She handed him the card back. "Did you over spend?"

"No. Did you?"

"What are you trying to say!" She put her hands on her hips.

"Well, you do tend to shop a lot nowadays."

"I do not."

"Okay, if you say so." The author grumbled. "Let's go inside and figure out what's wrong with it." They entered the inside of the bustling bank and got on line to speak with one of the receptionists.

"Ugh," She rubbed her belly.

"What's wrong?"

"Just hurts. It'll pass." He hated when she was in pain. Which was frequent, especially today. Castle couldn't help but think something might be wrong. Of course, when he tried to mention it to her earlier, she got upset with him. Trying to comfort her, Castle kissed her cheek softly.

"I love you." She grinned.

"Backatcha, handsome." Seeing this as permission to be romantic, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed her to him. Fortunately, she leaned her head against his side, letting her eyes slip closed. It had been a tiring day for her. Maybe they should skip a fancy resturaunt and just go home. He could make them something nice. After all, the loft was a much more intimate setting.

"Where are they?" Castle heard someone whisper nearby him. He passed it off as nothing and kept in his position, staring at the receptionist as she talked to the person at the front of the line. He sighed in annoyance, but the feeling passed when he glanced down at his wife and saw how comfortable she looked, eyes closed, head against him.

"They're here."

"If anything goes wrong, I'll end you."  
>"Don't fucking talk to me like that, kid." Rick turned his head to look at the two men. They spotted him immediately.<p>

"Next time don't talk so loud, idiot." One grabbed the others arm and lead him towards the door. His eyes lingered on the pair for another moment. And then out of nowhere -

"EVERYONE ON THE GROUND!" A voice rang out, guns being pulled out of various mens pockets and jackets. People started screaming, but only a few jumped to the ground. Kate's eyes snapped open and she gasped. There were seven men in total.

"I said on the fucking ground!" People started to listen. Rick grabbed his wife's arm and dragged her down with him, to a sitting position. At this point everyone had listened and gotten low, leaning against the reception desks, some just on the floor like the couple. Kate grabbed her stomache, a throbbing pain inside her that she couldn't ignore. It got worse as the seconds passed.

"Everyone empty your pockets. NOW!" People started taking things out of their pockets, handing over money, watches, jewelry. When two men approached the Castle's, Rick sat forward to block his wife.

"Move the fuck back." One snarled at him. Kate grabbed his arm.

"It's okay, baby." He whispered to her, holding her close. When she grabbed his arm, one man noticed the silver diamond on her ring finger. He snatched her hand. "Hey!" Rick shouted.

"Shut up." He admired her finger. "Give me the ring." Her eyes glanced over at her husband. He nodded at her. She pulled her hand from the man and sighed, reluctantly pulling it from her finger. She probably wouldn't have given it up so easily if she didn't have two babies to worry about.

"Give me your watch." The other said to Rick. He quickly unlatched it and handed it over. They moved on to another couple and he let out a breath. Kate was shaking, her hormones making her even more upset. Her husband wrapped her arms around her whispering "Sh...It's okay..Shh..", which made her feel slightly more safe.

Then she felt like something hit her in the stomache and let out a loud yelp. In the quiet environment, it was hard not to notice. A bunch of eyes looked at her, and then she let out another scream, piercing the air as she grabbed her belly in pain, bending forward.

"Kate, kate!" Rick tried to get her attention, panic settling over him as she screamed.

"What's wrong with her!" One of the gunmen shouted.

"She-She's pregnant. Somethings wrong. Please she needs an ambulance. She's not supposed to go in to labor for another month." One man scoffed.

"We're not calling her an _ambulance._" Another two men looked slightly panicked as the cop cars started pulling up outside. A mega-phone sounded with a mans voice on the other end.

"Leave the premises with your weapons on the ground and your hands up!" He shouted. "Come on, you can still get out of this. No one's hurt." What seemed to be the leader, rolled his eyes.

"Don't listen to them." He said to his 'friends'. Kate was still screaming and clutching herself, Rick holding on to her in fear. "Tony, take them to a back room, stay there with them." Tony's fearful eyes widened, and he slowly approached the couple. "Tick tock, Tony! Don't dissapoint me."

"G-Get up." He stuttered. Castle slowly stood, helping his wife up. She screamed in pain as she got up.

"Your wifes a drama queen." One laughed. He decided not to retort, knowing anything could happen.

Tony lead them to the storage closet, letting them walk in first before he entered himself, pulling on the light string, a dim light filling the room as he closed the door, the cheap light making a low humming noise. Rick gently sat his wife down against the back wall, the room incredibly tiny and squeezed in, the concrete on the ground dirty. On both sides of the wall there were shelves with different things on them, small supplies.

Tears spilled down the woman's face as she moaned in pain, gasping for air. Tony didn't know what to do. He just watched the situation play out, holding his gun towards them as he leaned against the door, eyes wide as he stared at her belly. Rick wiped a tear of his own, fear clenching him tightly.

"Baby, talk to me." He supported her head as she started to slip from leaning against the wall. "What's happening?"  
>"I don't-know." She breathed, nose pink, face pale. "They're coming."<p>

"They can't be..You're 31 weeks pregnant. It's not time." She sobbed in pain, forehead sweating, skin sticky. Her husband lifted her shirt to reveal her stomache. He didn't know what to do. Turning to look at Tony, his expression was pleading.

"Please. Find out if there's a doctor somewhere inside the bank. _Please_. What could it hurt?" Tony paused.

"I could get in trouble."

"Why would you? I'm not asking for an ambulance, just a doctor. Please, do you want to be responsible for three peoples deaths? Two of them being newborns?" Tony blinked rapidly, staring at Kate, who obviously needed help.

"Y-Yeah.. Stay here." He left the room quickly. Rick tried to hold himself together, but was barely doing it. Tears slid down his face and he grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly and bringing it to rest on his chest, where his heart was. He kissed her lips softly.

"Just, don't push. Don't do anything yet."

"Our babies are going to die?" Her question came out quiet and weak.

"No, no. I won't let them. After all, you're their mother. Too strong to die." A smile appeared on her lips for a few seconds before another contraction hit her, hard. The door opened and Tony walked in, a woman with him. The door closed as she entered, a woman with red hair in a bun on her head, one loose curl escaping. She was young, in her thirties.

"Oh, god." She muttered, taking in the scene. "How far along is she?"

"31 weeks. Twins." She shook her head, kneeling down in front of her. "Get a towel or a blanket. If you can find one." He stood up and looked around the small closet for anything.

"There's a cloth right here, but it's kind of dirty." Rick showed her the big cloth, the size of what she needed, but far too dirty.

"It's better than the floor. If it's all we got than fine, it'll do." He handed it to her and the woman lifted Kate's legs.

"I'm Emma." She told them quickly.

"_Thank you, _Emma." Rick spoke, watching as she placed the cloth under Kate's thighs.

"Don't thank me yet. If we were in the right environment, I have no doubt I could save her and the babies. But, this is a dirty, _tiny_ room, with absolutely no medical equipment, or nurses. Just me. This room is not a sterilized environment."

"Well, you'll have to make it work, Emma. There's nothing else we can do." He said quietly, looking back towards Tony. He looked guilty, but refused to look him directly in the eyes, staring forward at the wall.

"Help me get her pants off." Emma said to Rick, who immediately began undoing her pants, and assisting in pulling them off. "She's completely dialated." Rick didn't look, knowing it would probably just make him faint to watch their child come from her. So he sat close to Kate's head, holding her hand the whole way. Emma stood up and searched the shelves, scrambling. She grabbed a pair of scissors, dirty ones. She frowned, kneeling back in front of her.

"I can't promise there won't be infection. A million different things could go wrong right now. I've never done something like this before.." Both of the parents were crying, holding each others hands for dear life.

"What's your name?" Emma asked.

"She's Kate. I'm Rick."

"Okay, Kate. When I tell you to push, do it. Can you do that for me?" She nodded weakly, face contorted in pain. "I need another cloth, or towel or something. Tony, can you get me one from the shelf?" Tony nodded and looked on the shelf, then handed her another cloth.

"There are papertowels here. Do you need that?" The gunman asked.

"Yes. Absolutely." He handed her the roll of papertowels.

"Okay, working with what we have here.." Emma looked Kate in the eyes. "Are you ready, Kate?"

"_Yes, yes._." Sobbed the pregnant woman, squeezing her husbands hand.

"Okay, Kate. Push. As hard as you can." She let out a petriifying scream, causing chills to roll up Rick's back, more tears falling from his eyes.

"You're so strong, baby. You can do this."

"That wasn't big enough. I need you to push harder."

"I can't..I can't." Kate cried.

"Yes, you can. For your children. You can. PUSH!" She screamed and pushed as hard as she could.

"We're getting somewhere. Okay, great I see a head! And..push." Another push, more screaming. Tony's eyes popped out of his head at the scene. Kate's face was tomato red, sweat covering her body.

"The shoulders are out.." Moments later, a beautiful crying filled the air, and it wasn't just coming from the two parents.

"It's a boy." Emma smiled, immediately pulling a papertowel out and began cleaning off the babies skin. Rick stared in shock.

"That's..That's my son..."

"This is your son." When Emma cleaned him, she wrapped him up in the cloth. "Hold him while I work on the next one." Treating the child like he was porcelain, Rick carefully accepted the newborn in to his arms, sobs immediately caught in his throat as he saw him, blinking away the tears to clear his vision.

"Our..baby?" Kate whispered so weakly, it sounded as if she was about to pass out.

"He's okay." Rick grinned.

"G-Good..." Her eyes slipped closed.

"Oh, god. Oh no. Kate, open your eyes." Emma gently hit her cheek. "Kate, don't give up on me. You can't passout you have another child."

"Kate, come on baby. Up." Her eyes fluttered open.

"That's it, ma'm. I need you to start pushing again."

"No, I can't..I'm so tired.."

"Your baby will die if you don't push. You need to push, Kate." That perked her up. She yelled out as she pushed again, crying as she did. She was so exhausted, but she couldn't stop. For their baby. Sobbing, she pushed again. She wouldn't give up. Not on their kids. This one came out easier.

"A girl." Emma said.

"Why isn't she crying?" Rick whispered.

"No pulse." Emma layed the still, premature baby gently on the blanket.

"No, no. Fix her!" Rick cried. Emma began gently using chest compressions on the baby, then breathed in to her mouth. She continued this process for several moments. And then -

A babies crying filled the silence. Rick's smile widened considerably, Emma wrapping up the young girl.

"We did it! You did it, Kate! You did it!" He looked over at his wife. Her eyes were closed. "Kate?" His eyes flickered. "No. Doctor! DOCTOR!" Emma looked over. "She-She.." Emma quickly leaned forward the check his wife.

"She's okay. Just unconscious. Her blood pressure is considerably low, but as long as we get all of them to a hospital very soon, she'll be fine."

"Tony." Rick said thickly, the young man eyeing him. "We need to get them to a hospital. Please. We're the only hostages that have to leave. But, they'll die. Please..." Tony swallowed hard. "_Please_."

"Get up." Tony muttered.

"Thank you." Holding his daughter close to his chest, he stood.

"Follow me."

"Wait—what about Kate?" He looked over at Emma for guidance.

"We'll come back for her. We just need to get the babies out." He didn't seem to sit well with that idea.

"I can't just leave her here. I can't. She could die."

"We only have so many hands, Rick." Tears filled his eyes and his heart clenched. But, he followed them out. Now, the children came first.

"What the fuck are you doing, Tony?" The lead gunman asked, shocked when he saw the babies that weren't there before.

"She gave birth, they need a hospital." He shook his head. "They need one."

"Fine, just them."

"My wife is still inside, I need to come back and get her. You won't be responsible for any deaths, will you? You'll go to prison for even longer."

"You're crazy if you think I'm letting you come back inside to get her. We'll have a hostage take her out." Rick could only hope the man would keep his word, and walked out with Emma and his kids. Immediately, police swarmed him when he got far enough from the building, the babies being brought to an ambulance.

"My wife is inside! She gave birth to them in the bank and she's still in there." He sobbed.

"Look!" Emma pointed towards the door. A male hostage was carrying Kate out.

"Kate!" Rick ran full speed towards his wife and took her from him, gathering her in his arms. "Baby, I was so worried." She moaned softly in response.

"Get her in the ambulance." The paramedic said, helping Rick get her inside with the babies. And they were off, Rick following in his own car.

**XX**

An hour later, Rick was watching the news in the waiting room of the hospital, coverage on the hostage situation. They were showing a replay of the famous author rushing out of the bank with his two newborn children. Something that would probably make front page news. '**Celebs Children Born – In hostage situation!'** He almost laughed at the thought, but was too worried too. Moments later, it was announced that the gunmen had been taken down, and no one was harmed more than a few scratches.

"Castle?" A woman called out. Rick stood up.

"How are they?" She smiled warmly.

"They're all stable. The twins are with their mommy as we speak. Would you like to see them?"

"Absolutely. Yes. Please." Emma had been waiting with him in the hospital, silently sitting beside him until now.

"Good luck, Mr. Castle." She shook hands with him.

"Thank you, so much. Are you sure you wouldn't like to see them?"

"Go be with your wife." She said simply. He thanked her again, and then ran to the elevator to get to his wifes room. Once he got there, he saw her laying in bed, holding both babies, one leaning in each arm.

"Rick!" She shouted.

"Katie. Oh my god." His eyes bulged when he saw the babies, happy and safe. "Our...our babies."

"Yeah. Ours. And they're okay. I'm so glad you're here, these two are heavy for premies." He accepted his daughter in to his arms, Kate smiling as she held her little boy.

"They're so beautiful." Her husband whispered as he rocked their daughter, who was sound asleep. It was an exciting day. "What are we naming them?"

"I was thinking for our little girl... Johanna Emma Castle... What do you think?"

"It's perfect."

"You really think so? I was worried you wouldn't like it."

"There's no better name for her. What about our son?"

"I want his middle name to be Richard." She said quietly. Castle was appreciative of this, showing how much she loved him.

"What about his first name?"  
>"I think you should come up with that."<p>

"What about...Corey?"

"I like Corey. Why'd you pick it?"

"It's Alexis' favorite name for a boy. She told me so when she found out you were pregnant." Kate nodded, accepting it as his name. "Corey Richard Castle."

"They're really here." He stated.

"I guess they were pretty anxious to come out." Rick glanced down at his phone, then looked up towards his wife. "What?"  
>"Esposito, Lanie, Ryan, and Jenny are coming. They're picking up my mother and Alexis along the way."<p>

"Oh good! You're gonna meet your families." Kate cooed to her young ones.

And they did. Soon after, their friends and family anxiously arrived, and Jim came the next day. Lanie of course adored the two children, crying the moment she saw them. Esposito and Ryan made a pact that no one would lay their hands on the kids. Esposito also made Castle promise he wouldn't let Johanna date until she was 37. Castle said she'd have to be 40. Then they fed the birds.

It was a happy ending for the entire family.


End file.
